The present invention relates generally to tools, and more particularly to new and improved pneumatic and manual installation tools for installing U-nut type fasteners upon edge portions of panels, plates, or the like, wherein each one of the installation tools is uniquely structured so as to permit a nested, stacked, or collated strip of U-nut fasteners to be accommodated within a magazine of the installation tool, and wherein further, the installation tool is able to separate individual fasteners from the vertical stack or collated strip of U-nut fasteners so as to serially apply the fasteners to edge portions of the mounting plates, panels, or the like.
U-nuts are widely used as fasteners or support brackets within the automotive and other industries for mounting various components, such as, for example, modules, door panels, hinges, and the like, upon support panels, plates, beams, and the like. U-nut type fasteners conventionally comprise a U-shaped spring clip which has a flexibly resilient annular hoop or retainer ring, having a central aperture, partially sheared from a first one of the arms of the U-shaped spring clip, and an internally threaded sleeve or nut member which is integrally formed upon a second one of the arms of the U-shaped spring clip for threadedly receiving a threaded bolt or similar type fastener which is also passed through an aperture defined within the support plate or panel whereby the U-nut and bolt fasteners can be fixedly secured upon the support plate or panel so as to in turn secure one of the aforenoted components upon the support plate or panel. The second one of the arms of the U-shaped spring clip is also preferably provided with an upwardly bent forward edge or lip portion so as to facilitate insertion of an edge portion of the support panel or plate between the two arms of the U-nut.
U-nuts are thus mounted upon a support panel or plate by inserting, in effect, an edge portion of the support panel or plate into the space defined between the two arms of the U-nut fastener and subsequently sliding the U-nut fastener onto the support panel or plate until the flexibly resilient annular hoop or retainer ring engages and becomes seated within the aperture defined within the support panel or plate. The central aperture formed within the first one of the arms of the U-nut, and serving to define the annular hoop or retainer ring, also permits the passage therethrough of the bolt fastener, and still further, serves to somewhat guide the bolt fastener into engagement with the internally threaded sleeve or nut member formed upon the second one of the arms of the U-nut. Various types or various configurations of U-nut type fasteners are disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,707 which issued to Gagnon on Feb. 3, 1998, U.S. Pat. No. 5,294,224 which issued to Kent on Mar. 15, 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,264 which issued to Benn on Aug. 13, 1991, U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,507 which issued to Olah on Jan. 17, 1989, U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,753 which issued to Muller et al. on Dec. 27, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,706 which issued to Peterson et al. on Mar. 8, 1988, U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,305 which issued to Dubost on Aug. 4, 1987, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,818 which issued to Derby on Feb. 1, 1969. An installation tool for installing an individual U-nut type fastener upon a plate or panel is also disclosed within U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,753 which issued to Muller et al. on Dec. 27, 1988.
In connection with the sale and distribution of U-nut fasteners, the same are normally placed in storage bins in preparation for conveyance to packaging machinery, however, as can readily be appreciated, due to the unique structure of U-nut fasteners, the conventional storage of such fasteners usually results in the interlocking or entanglement of such fasteners. Such interlocking or entanglement of the fasteners prevents the efficient packaging of the fasteners, and in addition, inhibits the efficient and rapid use of such fasteners during installation procedures because, obviously, the interlocked or entangled fasteners must first be unlocked or disentangled from each other prior to use and installation of the same.
A need has therefore existed in the art for a new and improved U-nut type fastener which permits and facilitates the stacking or nesting of such fasteners into a collated strip whereby the fasteners can be packaged in a substantially improved and efficient manner, and for a new and improved collated strip of such fasteners wherein the fasteners can be readily disposed or oriented for disposition within the magazine of an installation tool such that the tool can apply the fasteners to edge portions of support plates or panels. The foregoing needs have now been met by means of a new and improved U-nut type fastener, and a vertically stacked or nested array of such fasteners, as disclosed within co-pending United States Patent application entitled U-NUT FASTENER AND COLLATED STRIP OF U-NUT FASTENERS, application Ser. No. 09/583,704, filed on Mar. 31, 2000. Nevertheless, as can be appreciated from the aforenoted patent to Muller et al., there has never been provided an installation tool which can accommodate a stacked, nested, or collated strip of U-nut type fasteners within, for example, a magazine portion of the tool, and which can then in effect separate individual fasteners from the nested, stacked, or collated array of fasteners so as to serially dispense such fasteners and therefore mount the same upon edge portions of support plates or panels.
A need therefore still exists in the art for an installation tool which can accommodate a stacked, nested, or collated strip of U-nut type fasteners within a magazine portion thereof, which is additionally able to easily remove or separate an individual one of the fasteners from the collated or nested strip of fasteners, and which is able to be utilized by operator personnel to rapidly install such separated U-nut type fasteners upon edge portions of support plates, panels, or the like.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved tool for installing U-nut type fasteners upon edge portions of support plates or panels.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved tool for installing U-nut type fasteners which effectively overcomes the various drawbacks or disadvantages characteristic of PRIOR ART U-nut type fastener installation tools.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved tool for installing U-nut type fasteners wherein the tool can house a nested, stacked, or collated array of U-nut type fasteners within the tool magazine.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved installation tool which is uniquely structured for removing or separating individual U-nut fasteners from the nested or collated strip of fasteners and for installing the separated U-nut fastener upon an edge portion of a support plate or panel.
The foregoing and other objectives are achieved in accordance with the teachings and principles of the present invention through the provision of a new and improved tool for installing U-nut type fasteners wherein a vertically nested, stacked, or collated array of such fasteners is housed within a magazine portion of the tool. The vertically nested, stacked, or collated strip is biased toward the dispensing station or position by means of a spring member, and a wedge-shaped member is adapted to be driven between an endmost one of the nested, stacked, or collated fasteners and the remaining fasteners disposed within the nested, stacked, or collated array of fasteners so as to separate the endmost one of the fasteners from the remaining fasteners of the nested, stacked or collated array of fasteners and drive such endmost fastener onto the edge portion of the support plate or panel. In accordance with further teachings and principles of the present invention, the wedge shaped, fastener separator-driver member may be either pneumatically driven or manually driven whereby the installation tool may comprise either a pneumatically-operable tool or a manually-operable tool.